


What does Shakespeare Know? (3)

by makingitwork



Series: Bughead Soulmate AU's [7]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt and comfort, Protective FP, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-19 21:42:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17609543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makingitwork/pseuds/makingitwork
Summary: Betty meets Jughead's family.





	What does Shakespeare Know? (3)

Because her body is a biological beauty, when it hits 6:29am, Betty wakes up- preempting her alarm.

Except her alarm doesn't go off, because she didn't set it last night because she was...a little more preoccupied doing other things. 

The other thing being the lovely, sleeping Jughead snoring just beside her. She sinks back into the warm, blankety comfort of her bed and turns her head to look at him. He's asleep chest down, the smooth planes of his back bare to the world; the covers slung low on his hips and his head turned to the side as he breathes. His hair is longer than she thought too, and it spills its ebony locks onto her white pillows. She turns on her side to better look at him. They've only been dating a week, but she doesn't care. She always thought she'd be the type of girl to hold off on sex, but she was wrong. And she doesn't regret it at all. 

Her body feels sated and satisfied and aching in all the right ways and she's so,  _so_ happy she picked him over an assignment last night. Betty lives in a little studio flat, part of the College's accommodation and her neighbours are quiet, studious, post-graduate students so she never has to worry about noise. There's a lovely, quiet buzz of early morning in the air broken only by Jughead's soft breathing. He's a very deep sleeper, and she's not surprised why, given that he sleeps without his hearing aids in. 

She turns to see the two plastic pieces on the bedside table. They're unusually shaped, with little buttons, and she marvels at seeing them up close. They're so symbolic she could probably write an entire dissertation on them. They've given Jughead back his ability to hear, and if she'd known they'd existed then she...she wouldn't have done the things she'd done to him. She regrets it to much. She's always so sorry. She's always going to be sorry. Racked with guilt and filled with love to him, she rolls over and nuzzles into his shoulder, and slides her hand down his back as she leans in to peck the top of his cheek. He smiles a little in his sleep, but doesn't stir. 

Betty takes a moment to just look at him. At his olive skin and sharp cheekbones and long lashes. His parted pink lips and his little freckling of beauty marks on his lower jaw and she just...she wishes she'd known when she was a teenager that her soulmate was not only going to be a sweetheart, but was also going to be the most handsome man she's ever seen. God,  _god_ and everything he's been through, all the things she's put him through. She'd had this image for so long of a monster, of a heartless player who'd wanted nothing to do with her- she'd never even considered the possibility that he was a hero who'd saved his sister and thought he'd lost his chance at love forever. Every tear she's ever shed feels hollow compared to all he's gone through. 

She can feel tears well up again, and she presses forward to kiss his forehead, to make up for everything, and he opens his eyes, a sliver of emerald peaking out at her. He smiles at her, his arm reaching out to wrap around her waist and pull her close to him. She's tugged across the mattress easily, and she marvels at how strong he is as he tucks her into his chest and kisses her temple. "Morning," she giggles, tingling all over at the feeling of their bodies pressed together. He doesn't answer and she curses herself for always forgetting. She pulls back and looks up into his face, grinning at his curiously arched eyebrow. "Good morning," she says again, enunciating a little, and he nods. 

"Morning," he whispers, extra-quiet the way he always is without his aids in. 

Betty licks her lips, and closes her eyes as she sings one of her favourite Presley songs, knowing if she sings it, he'll be able to hear her perfectly in his head. "I love you because you understand, dear. Every single thing I try to do. You're always there to lend a helping hand, dear, I love you most of all because you're you." 

When she opens her eyes, his burning look of love makes her cheeks flame red. He pushes their noses together and swallows thickly. "Sing the-the Barbie song you used to sing."

She has to strain to hear him and he seems to notice because he looks a little embarrassed and she hurriedly tries to decipher what he's said because she doesn't want him to feel bad. "Barbie?" She repeats, and he nods. She frowns and tries to think about a barbie song she used to sing, but there are a lot and she can't quite recall it. He reaches an arm over her for his hearing aid and she grabs his wrist. He smiles softly at her, his voice trembling as he sings;

"You don't need a bow or tiara..." he begins, shaky and shy, but she gets it immediately. His voice echoes in her head as well as her ears and that's one of the reasons they're going to see the Soulmate Specialist today. More and more lately, she's been able to hear his voice and his songs. She sings:

"Bid your woes, sayonara! Trust your nose, cause it knows the way to go!" She remembers the movie and she's pleased to see he does do. Barbie and the Princess and the Pauper will forever be one of her favourites. He loves it when she sings, she knows that, but it still makes her blush all over. Especially when she remembers his look of outrage when she told him she was majoring in Journalism and not in Music. His hand slides down her waist to her hips and thigh, touch feather-light and shiver inducing. She wonders if he'd be up for some shower sex. "Shower?" She mouths, gesturing between the two of them and winking with her best sultry move. 

He grins, eyes crinkling. But ultimately, shakes his head. "I prefer sex," he murmurs, "when I can _hear_ you." 

Oh. _Well_. She shudders all over, and watches balefully as he disappears into the bathroom.  

She's treated to his whispering songs in the bathroom. She's not sure how it's happened, but she loves that she can hear him more and more. As each day passes, the closer they get, the more audible his voice becomes and the things he listens to become clear. He mostly sings songs she's never heard of, and sometimes he just hums out the drumbeats of complex music. Now, he's got the Princess and the Pauper in his head and she laughs as he offers a murmuring rendition of Preminger's evil plan. 

She's jarred out of her slumbering reverie when the bedside table starts shaking and blasting out  _Baby, I'm faded. All I wanna do is drive home to you. Baby. I'm wasted. All I wanna do is take you downtown..._ she reaches over for Jughead's phone and looks at the photo of Jughead- younger, with a rounder, chubbier face, with a taller man's arm slung over his shoulder. DAD the contact reads. "Jug!" She calls, before cursing her own stupidness as she pads across the floor and darts into the bathroom. 

Jughead's body is unfortunately hidden by the steam, but she knocks on the glass and he takes a moment, before he notices her and grins. "I wanna be able to hear you, but- I'm not gonna say no," he winks, his voice echoey. She rolls her eyes and shows him his phone. 

He shuts off the shower immediately, and pushes the glass door open and grabs it with wet hands. Betty winces at the droplets of water on the touchscreen, but doesn't comment as Jughead takes a few tries to swipe and answer. "Dad, wait!" He calls, and Betty hears a chuckle. She watches as Jughead wraps the towel around his waist and jogs out. He dries out his ear as best he can with the corner of the towel before pushing in the right one and switching it on before he presses a button and then holds the phone to his ear. "I'm here," he breathes, and she watches as he smiles softly into the receiver. "Yeah, we'll be with you around..." he looks at his wrist, before realising he's not wearing a watch and Betty snorts. "Probably around eleven am tomorrow. Yeah...yeah. Yeah, we're going to the specialist later. Okay. Sure. Say hi to JB for me. Okay...alright," he laughs, "okay. Love you, see you tomorrow, yeah...bye dad, bye," he hangs up and Betty feels goosebumps rise along her shoulders. 

She's going to meet his  _family_ tomorrow. It's scary. It's nerve-wracking. It's something she never, ever thought she'd have to do and as heart breaking as that was, it was also a little bit of a relief. No one to disappoint. But she's excited, nervous but excited, and she desperately wants to make a good impression but she has no idea what to expect. She is soft all over for the way he lights up when he talks to his dad though. From what she's seen so far, FP is protective and calls every other day to make sure Jughead is alright. She's not surprised by his hovering, given everything her soulmate has been through. "Why's he calling so early?" She asks as Jughead places the other hearing aid in. 

"I told him to call and remind me to wake up," he grins, "I always forget appointments. And it was before I knew..." he cocks his head and winks at her, "that I'd be staying over." 

She blushes and flips him the bird, relishing in the full-bodied laugh she's treated to. She's only known him a week and she's still figuring out the way to entice out those little smiles, those smirks, those cocky grins and those lovely, but rarer, full bodies laughs. "I'm going to shower," she says and he nods. 

"Sing for me, baby," 

She does.

The hospital is a cab ride away from Betty's apartment and centred in some pretty, but artificial, meadows to create a more pleasant, calming atmosphere. Once they're in the waiting room, Betty gnaws on her bottom lip and thinks about meeting Jughead's dad. She knows his mom passed away when he was young, and she desperately wants his dad to like her. What if he doesn't? Awkward Thanksgiving Dinners aren't exactly her forte. There are a few other people in the waiting room: a boy with a cast on his arm, a pregnant woman, and a smiling elderly woman. A little asian girl with dark skin and short black hair is playing by the low lying coffee table and giggling as she indeterminably shoves magazines away from her. But Betty can't really see them as she dreams up a thousand different ways this meeting tomorrow can go wrong. 

After they spend a few days with Jughead's family, they're going to drive across state to her own family because Polly and Jason are going to be in town too. Betty knows they'll all love Jughead- how couldn't they? Now that they're done reeling over the fact that he'd never abandoned her at all-

"Here," Jughead murmurs, leaning forward out of his chair and sliding a magazine towards the little girl. Betty's jolted out of her worrying and she frowns in confusion before realising that the little girl has made a giant snowflake out of magazines and Jughead's just helped her complete it. The little girl grins at him, toothless and cherub-faced and she staggers towards him. Betty looks up and sees the pregnant woman nodding as the little girl comes to a stop at Jughead's knees. He grins down at her. "Very good." He says approvingly, "are you an artist?" 

The little girl giggles, going red and Betty knows the feeling because  _swoon._ Jughead has reached an arm around her to press against the corner of the coffee table and Betty doesn't quite get it at first, before seeing that they are actually quite sharp. God, he's good with kids. Her ovaries are screaming. "Artist," she repeats with a dimpled-smile. 

Jughead nods like it's all very profound. "And does this artist have a name?" 

"I'm Cady," she introduces and Jughead grins.

"I'm Jughead and this is my soulmate: Betty," 

His soulmate, Betty. She flushes with pleasure. 

"Pretty," Cady murmurs and Betty barely resists the urge to fan her face as Jughead nods. 

"She's the prettiest." He agrees and holds his hand up. Cady stares at it for a long moment before high-fiving him and then galloping off back towards her mother. Jughead watches her go, all fond and pleased and Betty wonders if having a hundred children with him would be a tad much. 

"You're good with kids," she murmurs.  _Obviously,_ her brain taunts her but Betty ignores it. Jughead drags his hands through his floppy dark hair and shrugs like it's nothing. Instead he reaches over and takes Betty's hands. 

"I don't need hearing aids to hear you stewing over here, Betty," he murmurs, kissing her cheek. His eyes are blazing green with earnestness. "You really don't have to worry. They're going to love you. How could they not?" 

"Don't they..." she's almost scared to say it aloud, but Jughead's properly staring at her now, curious and concerned, so she has to continue. She sighs, "don't they...don't they hate me for...for everything I did- for what I put you through? When you were already going through so much?" Her voice wobbles a little and Jughead clutches her hands tighter in his to stop them from shaking. She can hardly bear what she's done to him- how can his dad love her? How can his protective dad love the woman who hurt his son? She doesn't understand how Jughead doesn't hate her for it-

"By that logic," he says thoughtfully, "your parents are going to hate me for all the years of pain I caused you." 

She rolls her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous, you have-"

"An excuse?" He finishes, shaking his head. "No way. It's my fault."

Betty's jaw drops. "It is not your fault!" She insists passionately, "god, Jug- how can you ever think that? It's not your fault at all!"

"Good," he shrugs simply, "then it's not yours either." His voice drops an octave with severity: "You didn't  _know,_ Betty. I left you without a reason and you didn't know. It's not your fault. Just like it's not my fault either, right? That you felt so alone for so long- that's not my fault, is it?" He looks like he'll believe it if she says yes, and of course it isn't true. She couldn't tolerate the thought that he blamed himself for it, so she guesses...he probably can't bear her thinking it's her fault either. 

She lets him push their foreheads together and lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Okay," she says, "I can't promise, but I can try. I'm just...I'm always just so-"

"Please don't say sorry again," Jughead chuckles; exasperated and fond all at the same time. "Or we'll just keep going in a circle forever." 

The nurse comes out then and calls their names and they both get up, link hands and follow her out. Betty glances back over her shoulder to see Cady waving at her. The _Soulmate Specialist_ section of the hospital is smaller and more maturely decorated than the other sections. Betty and Jughead are led into a room where a kind woman with big red glasses smiles at them and asks them to take a seat. She has a purple clipboard and the label on her lapel reads  _Dr Shannon_ in shiny magnetic letters. "Hello, Mr Jones, Miss Cooper," she greets, shaking their hands and sitting back down; smoothing her white coat underneath her. "I had a look at your files, but it's not a bad visit today is it? No need to look so doom and gloom." 

Betty laughs and Jughead half smiles. "I guess I'm just nervous," Betty says, "and excited, but- we just want to make sure everything is fine."

Jughead nods, and Dr Shannon's eyes flickers between them calculatingly. She can probably tell they're new soulmates, Betty thinks. Still a little shy around each other, still getting to know one another and scared about how it's all going to work out. "That's perfectly normal. Okay, Mr Jones, are you wearing your hearing aids now?" Jughead nods, "okay, would you mind popping one out for me?" 

He automatically reaches up for his right hand and presses a button before tugging it out of his ear. Dr Shannon moves to stand beside him and shines a light into his ear before using another instrument that Betty doesn't know the name of. Jughead twitches as the presumably cold metal touches a sensitive part of his lobe and Dr Shannon apologises. Betty offers him a reassuring smile and Jughead grimaces at her. 

"Okay, that looks fine to me, you can pop your hearing aid back in." She says and mimes and he does so, fiddling around until it sits comfortably. "And no hearing change at all since the accident?" 

"None," he murmurs, voice gruff. It's the first thing he's said since they've come in. He doesn't like hospitals, then. Betty can understand that, but personally, she finds them soothing. She always feels a bit safer in a hospital. She reaches over to squeeze Jughead's hand and he flashes her another small smile. 

Dr Shannon scribbles something down. "Okay, and Miss Cooper- you say you could hear snippets of your soulmate's singing voice and music sporadically throughout your teenage years?"

Betty nods, remembering Jughead's face when she'd told him. He'd been so ecstatic over it that it had hurt to correct him and say that it was only snippets, few and far between. "Yes," she answers, "rarely, maybe...maybe a few words a month and never what he was listening to but only when he sang. Some months would be more than others and sometimes none at all. I thought..." she swallows thickly, "I thought it was the severed bond, you know? They're not 100% accurate and I thought maybe some of his singing was slipping through by mistake." 

"Ah," Dr Shannon murmurs, probably wondering how they've gotten through it all. "Not an unfair assumption. Soulmate severing is not foolproof." She scribbles something down. "How long did these snippets tend to last?"

"A few seconds," she says, "sometimes longer- but rarely."

Dr Shannon turns to Jughead. "And for you? Was the connection always-"

"Perfect." He nods. "The connection was always perfect." 

Dr Shannon smiles fleetingly. "Okay," she continues, voice softer, "but then Mr Jones's side became more frequent to you, is that right? After you both started NYU." 

"I could hear him a little more often, but on the bus- where we met, it was...it was crystal clear." She remembers, the rush of those emotions echoing through her system. "Is it because we were so close together? Geographically?" 

Dr Shannon shakes her head. "That's unlikely. There's no correlation between geographical location and soulmate strength in couples who haven't met each other yet. Tell me about the first time you heard a song he was listening to?" 

Betty blushes. "It was last Friday. We were...watching a movie. A song started playing during the opening credits and I could hear it- in my head. I could hear it because he was hearing it and that had...that had never happened before." 

"It's why we booked an appointment," Jughead chimes in, "all the books say that if your connection starts changing like that, you need to see a specialist."

The doctor nods kindly. "I understand. And you'll be pleased to know, I've seen this once or twice before. Mr Jones, this might be a personal question, but given your...tumultuous history, what were your feelings towards your soulmate?" 

Jughead doesn't even blink. He doesn't waver or seem at all shocked by the question but Betty is. She watches him, curious, as he smiles. "I loved her. Never stopped. I loved her more, if anything."

"It never wavered?" Dr Shannon pushes, "not even for a few months? A year?"

"Never." He says unquestionably. 

Betty's heart pounds and she wishes she could just reach over and kiss him. But now Dr Shannon is looking at her. "And for you, Miss Cooper? I understand it's a sensitive topic. If you'd prefer, we could do this without Mr Jones present-"

She doesn't want that. At all. Even though she's scared of her answer. "No, no," she hurries, "I...was confused." To put it mildly. "I think they wavered quite a lot between love and...and hatred. Mostly hatred, I think." She doesn't look over at Jughead. She's scared of what she'll see there. If it's pain, it'll hurt, and if it's reassurance, it'll hurt. 

Dr Shannon nods. "As I expected. Soulmate bonds get stronger and stronger when  _love_ is shared between them. Now of course, for average couples, this bond develops slowly but surely because they have now strong feelings towards the other. Most people love the thought of their soulmate, and grow to love their soulmate because of this- thus their bond continues to develop. But when a strong emotion is pushed through one end of the bond- receptiveness...is altered." She cocks her head and examines them. "After Mr Jones's accident, the Doctors told you your soulmate would be cut off from you- which is a common reaction and I'm not surprised that they assumed that. They had no way to check, after all. But I'm not sure that's what happened. I think the acoustic trauma cut you off for a time, but ultimately, what separated you, was emotions. Mr Jones, your love for her kept sending the music through the bond, but Miss Cooper, you could only receive them when the only emotion you felt for him- or the reigning one, was love. Any negative emotions you felt, any at all, created a sound barrier." 

Betty can taste acid in the back of her throat. 

"But now that you're together, now that your emotions are turning to such a passionate, all-encompassing love, the bond on your side is strengthening. Mr Jones's music is coming to you. I imagine, in a few weeks given the strength and maturity of the bond, you'll be able to hear everything he hears. The only limit will be the hearing aid. And as for you, Mr Jones, you'll hear your soulmate as clear as always." 

Jughead smiles, and it's not the small, scared smile of someone who doesn't like hospitals, it's the smile of someone who thinks what they've just heard is fantastic. His joy is enough to stop Betty from spirally into another well of guilt, and she's embraced in his toned arms. The thought is...the thought is amazing. Of being able to hear him. Of being able to communicate with him over long distances through song and music just like...just like everyone else. It makes her smile so hard it almost hurts, but she can't shake it- she can't shake the thought that-

"If I hadn't...if I'd  _loved_ him, I would have been able to hear him?" Betty asks, peaking out over Jughead's arm to look at the doctor. 

Dr Shannon shakes her head. "Miss Cooper, I can understand the tendency to blame yourself, but how could you love someone you couldn't hear? You were trapped in a cycle, my dear. You couldn't hear, so you couldn't love, and because you couldn't love, you couldn't hear. You're out of that cycle now. And because of your love for your soulmate- because your love is so strong and so fierce- the more you hear him, the more you know. Without your love now, the bond couldn't develop. When you first heard his music on Friday, your love for him broke through that final barrier. You should be...you should be very proud of your inner strength and resilience." 

The praise is so good, is so  _needed_ that it hurts. Jughead's murmuring declarations of love into her ear and Dr Shannon is looking away to try and give them some privacy. 

She rides on that high for a long time, until her NYU paper meeting that evening. 

There, she's bitterly reminded, that just because she's started to forgive herself, doesn't mean other people have. Toni Topaz, a girl Betty likes enormously, has started giving her a wide birth. After finding out that Toni and Jughead knew each other- that they were actually rooming together and were best friends, Betty had been astounded by what a small world it was after all. She'd thought the three of them would be great together, especially since she and Toni got on so well. 

But now...Toni keeps away. Betty sighs and walks across the room to where the pink-haired girl is working on one of the photos she's taken for the paper. A vibrant redhead is sitting beside her. Her soulmate, Betty thinks, and they make a striking pair with their coloured hair. "Toni," she beseeches, "are you going to ignore me for the rest of semester?" 

The redhead looks up and looks mildly sympathetic, but doesn't say a word. Toni doesn't either. 

"Toni," she tightens her ponytail and steels herself. "You may hate me because of what I put Jughead through but you will never hate me as much as  _I_ hate me, okay? I love him. I love him more than you could love him, he's my soulmate. It makes me  _sick_ when I think about how much I hurt him, and you...I..." she shakes her head, clenching her jaw so she doesn't cry. "We were friends. We were friends and now you're...you're cutting me off like that friendship meant nothing. Like I did what I did on purpose, when I didn't know- I was- I was a teenager! I thought I'd been abandoned-"

"You weren't." Toni snaps viciously, and even her girlfriend looks surprised by the fire in her voice. "You weren't abandoned. I had to watch him go through that. He had  _panic_ _attacks_ , did you know that? He was broken up over the thought of losing you and you were some...some stupid, ignorant teenager who pulled him through the wringer!" A few other people in the room have turned to look now but Betty doesn't care. 

"Panic attacks?" She repeats, voice barely above a whisper and Toni stiffens. 

"Did he not-"

"No," she whispers, "he didn't." 

Toni looks guilty at having revealed the information against her best friend's will but Betty's glad she did. Has Jug been underplaying it? She knows she hurt him, she knows that but...but has he been hiding how bad it was? Because he didn't want  _her_ to feel bad? The thought sends her spiralling to new lows. Toni takes a deep breath. "I shouldn't have- I should've have said that, but the fact is, Betty, I...I know you're probably a good person, but I just...I was there when he went through what he went through and just...the fact that you're a good person or that you made a mistake isn't enough to overcome that. I don't want to- I don't want to talk to you anymore."

"TT," the redhead murmurs, surprise and disapproval in her voice. "Are you going to punish her over a mistake?" 

Toni glares at the redhead and stands up abruptly. "Are you ever on my side, Cheryl?" She snaps, teary eyed, as she whirls away. Cheryl's lips part and she stares at the empty spot for a moment, before looking up at Betty. The blonde waits, ready for a verbal lashing, when Cheryl instead, stands up and reaches across the desk to touch her arm. 

"She's a protective spitfire, Betty. But I know her. She'll realise she's holding on too tightly to the past. It's not your fault, and if I, the stubborn bitch that I am, can see that, then...she will too." She nods, and her voice is so confident and so sure, that Betty feels a moment of reassurance. "I love Jughead, but- come on, you hurt him for four years! You're going to make him so happy for the rest of his life. I'm pretty sure it's a good trade off." 

Betty blinks in surprise, and manages a laugh. Cheryl is blunt and fierce and Betty thinks she likes her a lot. "Will you...will you tell Toni I'm sorry, anyway? Just that...if I could go back I would. I regret it so much." 

Cheryl nods, before picking up the camera that Toni left behind and going after her. 

 

Whens she gets back to her dorm, Jughead is camped out on the bed exactly where she left him, typing away and munching on a slice of pizza. He looks up when she enters and grins toothily. "I left the other half in the fridge for you," he says by way of greeting, before taking another large bite. The sight is so disarming, so  _normal_ that she'd quite like to pretend they were normal. Just a normal soulmate couple enjoying an evening together. Instead, she drops her backpack by the door and stands at the foot of the bed, looking at him. 

"Did you used to have panic attacks?" She asks, cutting straight to the point. 

Jughead freezes for a second, before chewing again, more slowly and then swallowing. His face is now carefully neutral, not betraying his emotions. "Did Toni-"

"Yes."

He nods, turning to look back at his computer screen. "It wasn't-" Betty scoffs, a sad, broken sound because she can't bear another lie, so Jughead changes tact. "It wasn't completely about you, Betty. I had panic attacks for about a year because of everything I'd gone through. Yes, losing you was one thing, but it was also the fact that everything in my life had changed so suddenly. I had to get used to hearing aids, and I was on a crutch with a broken leg, I joined a gang, and I'd nearly lost my little sister. I was so stressed all the time, and- I didn't tell you because..." he shakes his head, "you blame yourself for stuff when you shouldn't."

She knows he'd joined a gang, she's traced the tattoo on his arm and seen the leather jacket in his closet. She's asked him about it before. She didn't know he'd broken his leg, and hadn't considered the stress that nearly losing a sibling would cause. She nods slowly, trying to calm herself down. "Toni sure does." 

He frowns, unhappy with that response. "What does that mean? Did she say something to you tonight?"

"Nothing that wasn't true." 

"Betty," Jughead hisses, like hearing her say that pains him. "Did you hear the Doctor this morning? Your love is literally connecting us. If  _I'm_ over the four years, why aren't you? I don't blame you, I never blamed you-"

"Maybe you should!" She cries, tears beginning to fall and she wonders dimly whether her studious neighbours hate her now. 

Jughead's clambering off the bed in an instant and holding her in his arms. He's so tall and sturdy and she can collapse right into him. "You're scaring me, baby," he whispers, rubbing up and down her back. "I love you. I love you so much, and you love me. That's all there is to it. You shouldn't regret your feelings, not ever- you felt them and they were real and they made you who you are and you're so fantastic. I don't care what Toni says, she's not us. Nobody knows anything but me and you, isn't that right? Just seeing you- being with you- holding you here in my arms right now- god, nothing else matters. This makes up for any hardship for me, doesn't it for you?" He pulls back to look at her and his eyes say  _am I enough?_

Betty nods wetly. This love, their love, is more than all the pain of the past. "I love you," she whispers, and he moves them to the bed, holding her in his arms, and singing her to sleep. 

 

Dr Shannon had given them a brochure on the development on the soul bond and Betty flips through it as Jughead drives his faded blue Jeep back to a small town named Riverdale. Her heightened emotional state lately is to be expected, apparently, and that soothes her on some level. Even though it's early December, it's a hot day and they drive with the windows down, the wind filling the car and whipping at their hair. The radio's on low and she looks down at herself for the umpteenth time. She's wearing a pair of dark, high-waisted jeans and a pink sweater with a ruffled white collar peaking out. Her hair is up and she's wearing some glittery earrings her sister got her for her birthday. Understated, but fashionable. Sweet, but not effortless. She's  _tried._ She wants them to know that she's trying. 

Jughead, on the other hand, is dressed like always. An old tee and a plaid shirt over the top. His sleeves are rolled up and the shirt unbuttoned so it flaps around his torso in the wind. His beanie's on too and it hides his raven hair. His thumb is tapping against the steering wheel and he looks happy. Content. 

Betty feels content too. She's here with her soulmate, a place she never thought she'd be and she wants to enjoy it. So she folds the leaflet away and stores it under the dash. Jughead looks over at the sound and smiles, reaching for her hand and bringing it to his lips. Her heart flips and soars. She really has never been this happy before and she's not going to keep letting her insecurities ruin it for them. "My love, my lover-lover-lover, I'm in paradise whenever I'm with you..." she sings and Jughead's face lights up like a switch has been flipped. 

He shuts off the radio eagerly and encourages her to keep going. She doesn't think she'll ever be over how infatuated with her voice he is. 

"My mind, my m-m-m-mind, it's in paradise whenever I'm with you." 

She's surprised when Jughead's voice continues in it's low, smooth baritone: "Ride on, I will ride on down the road. I will find you, I will hold you, I'll be there. It's long." It echoes in her head too which makes her tingle all over.

She giggles. "How long?" 

"It's a mighty long road but I find you. I will hold you and I'll be there." He taps out the flourish on the wheel and she shakes her head in awe. 

"I didn't know you knew George Ezra." 

"You know him," he says easily, "I've been listening to you listening to him for years."

She arches a curious eyebrow. "Do you like him?" 

He grins, unrepentant. "I like  _your_ voice and your passion when you sing it. It sells most songs to me. And on that note, I think I should say I hate you for putting me through High School Musical for so long." 

Betty sticks her tongue out but she's laughing as she remembers her obsession with it. She clears her throat and continues to sing: "I know you heard it from those other boys but this time it's real. It's something that I feel and I and..." she looks at him, and he has to bite his lip to stop from smiling, before they sing out together, the way it should be:

"If it feels like paradise running through your bloody veins, you know it's love heading your way..."

They spend the rest of the long drive chasing the sunrise and switching between singing duets and asking each other questions. Jughead's favourite colour is green ( _for too many reasons, Betts. My sister's eyes, the Serpents, the colour the words in books turns when you read in the sunlight for too long)_ and that his favourite movie of all time is the obscure, British anthology: Dr Terror's House of Horrors. She learns he can ride a motorbike and that his favourite word is silhouette. 

She in turns tells him her favourite colour is pink ( _No, not because I'm a cliche but because...I like it. Nothing ever bad happens around the colour pink. Pink is always in.)_ and that her favourite movie is the 1994 Wolf with Jack Nicholson because book editors and werewolves makes for a good movie. Jughead looks at her with such intensity and heat in his gaze that he actually pulls the car over and then pulls her onto his lap so he can kiss her. Her legs settle on either side of his thighs and he kisses her with such passion she thinks he might have a kink about movies. And food. Her favourite word, she tells him, once they're back on the road and looking slightly less ruffled, is penumbra. She likes that their words are similar. Ghosts of objects. 

Soon she sees a faded, crumbling sign that reads:  _Welcome to Riverdale._ "Wow," she murmurs, peeking her head out the window to take a better look. Riverdale certainly is...something. She can see dark, mossy pine trees and forestry that seem to spread out endlessly into the distance. It's all a weird mixture of run down and for some reason, it looks...not timeless, but  _out_ of time. Like someone plucked it from a history book and put it somewhere else and now it's ahistorical and doesn't make any sense. "I can definitely see where you get your whole Twin Peaks vibe from." 

He chuckles, "home sweet home," 

Soon she sees another sign, one that reads  _Sunny Side Trailer Park_ and she presses her lips together nervously. She knows Jughead doesn't have a lot of money, and that he's on a full scholarship at NYU- she doesn't care about that at all. But she wonders whether he'll be comfortable at her house in a few days. She isn't rich by any means, she's no Veronica, but her mom can be...snobby, at the best of times. He parks near a trailer and shoots her a wink that says: You'll be fine. She hopes he's right. She gets out of the jeep and he starts hauling their bags out of the back when a trailer door opens and Betty watches as a girl of about fourteen stands there. 

This is Jellybean Jones. Betty knows it immediately. Tall and lanky, like her brother, with the same dark hair and green eyes and- beanie. Jellybean's is pink, and Betty wonders what it's for. She's wearing a pink floyd t shirt and Betty wonders whether she, or her soulmate likes the band. "Jay!" She screams, sprinting towards him. 

Jughead turns, and barely manages to drop the bags in time before he has an arm full of his sister. They clutch each other tightly, and swing side to side and Betty's heart warms at the sight. "You'd think I'd gone to war," he teases and Jellybean slaps his arm, but she's smiling very hard. He wraps an arm around her and steers her towards Betty. "This is Betty, my soulmate. Betty, meet Jellybean. My sister." He nudges Jellybean towards her and Betty steps forward, hand out and smiling. 

"Hey, Jellybean. It's great to meet you." She says, as brightly as she can. 

Jellybean looks up at her, and doesn't take her hand. "I'm gonna go get dad." She says, before sprinting back into the trailer.

Betty retracts her hand from the air. "Hey," Jughead whispers, kissing her head, "they're teenagers. They're rude and annoying. I certainly was." She nods, trying to believe it, and then FP Jones is stepping out. He looks older than he does in Jughead's contact picture. Taller too. He's broad and imposing and exudes strength. But his eyes are all crinkled with warmth and he's engulfing Jughead into his arms like a bear and Jughead grins and let's FP examine him. His cheeks are prodded and his arms too. 

"Are you eatin' enough, boy?" FP mutters, with all the concern of a dedicated nutritionist. Not like the way her mom asks. Whenever her mom makes a comment about food, Betty normally wants to curl away and cry. "It's like hugging a bag of tyre irons." He cups Jughead's face and tilts it up by his chin, examining his complexion. "Are you getting enough sun?" 

Jughead snorts and bats him away. He then turns to Betty proudly, like she's the best thing in the world. "Dad, this is Betty. Betty Cooper, my soulmate." 

Betty's about to stick her hand out, but before she can, she's wrapped up in a hug by FP Jones. He smells of leather and oil. She likes it. "Betty Cooper. Jug's been talking my ears off about you," FP beams, pulling back and Betty feels warm and glowing all over. "This is amazing- and you're- I mean, I never thought he would, so I'm just so-" tears well up and Jughead claps him on the back. 

"Dad," he beseeches, "c'mon, it's okay."

FP nods, sniffling and trying to regain some composure. "It sure is. Yes, we're so happy to meet you, Betty. Did you meet Jelly?" 

Betty nods, biting her bottom lip worriedly. "I"m not sure if she likes me." She says honestly, and Jughead slings his arm over her shoulders and squeezes reassuringly. 

"Don't worry about Jel," FP reassures, "she's a tough nut to crack, Betty. Besides, she's in a mood. She's fighting with her soulmate." 

Jughead groans. "Again?" 

Betty looks between them curiously. "Why?" 

"He's been listening to Chris Brown and Jellybean wants him to stop. The Rihanna thing." Jughead sighs and Betty lifts her eyebrows in surprise and respect. Jellybean is fierce. FP refuses to let them help bring the bags inside, so Betty finds herself getting shown around the small, but cosy trailer. It's cramped, but well-lived in and the walls are crammed full of photos of the three of them. There's two Serpents jackets hanging on the coat stand, and Betty realises that the Serpents really is a family affair. She's shown Jughead's room, and she grins at the report cards taped to the walls. 

"A straight A student," she teases, "my, my," 

"Please," he rolls his eyes at her, "If you look at gym you'll see that's not true. Plus, I bet you're the one with all the ribbons." 

She does examine gym and beams at the C scrawled in red. English is an A+ though, just like History. "I do have a lot of ribbons," she sighs with faux-exasperation and shrieks when Jughead scoops her up and dumps her on the bed. It's all been made up for them and she's suddenly overcome with a wave of amazement. Here she is in her soulmate's childhood home. Here she is in his bedroom, and here he is with her. She's with him. She's...she's where she never thought she'd be and she's so happy. She grabs Jughead's face in her hands and pulls him into a kiss just as a loud bang comes from the living room. She jumps, but Jughead just smiles. 

"I know that entrance!" He yells, and they both stand up just before an enormous young man walks in. If Betty thought Jughead was tall, this guy is...something else. He's tall and broad with muscular bare arms and a Serpents tattoo. He takes one look at Jughead before hauling him into a tight hug that lifts her soulmate clean off the ground. "Sweet Pea," Jughead laughs, a little muffled by denim, "missed you,"

Sweet Pea hugs him again. "Missed you too. Knew it wouldn't belong before you dropped out, though." 

Jughead snorts. "You wish. Come, look," he pulls away and reaches for Betty's hand, guiding her over. "This is Betty." 

She's perceptive, but it isn't hard to see the way Sweet Pea's face shutters off a little. She's scared that he's going to do exactly what Jellybean did, but he doesn't. He shakes Betty's hand and smiles at her, apparently trying his best to look friendly. "The elusive soulmate." Sweet Pea nods, "you're every bit as beautiful as Jughead said you were. He was gushing about you on the phone. I thought he was going to start stalking you or something." 

Jughead elbows him and Betty smiles. "He's very sweet." She agrees, as FP's voice calls him from the living room. 

"I'm coming, dad," he calls back, before pointing to the two of them. "Get to know each other!" He orders, before disappearing. It's the most excitable she's ever seen him and she likes it, but now she's left in a room with a guy she's pretty sure doesn't like her. 

Sweet Pea takes a seat on the bed pretty comfortably, like he's been there all his life so Betty perches on the desk in the corner. "Long drive?" He asks, and she's pleasantly surprised by the amount of effort he's putting into this. Jughead's talked about Sweet Pea a little, not a lot, but enough for Betty to know that this guy is like a brother to him. Sweet Pea, Toni and Jughead, the three musketeers of high school apparently. And just like Toni, Sweet Pea doesn't like her. 

It doesn't sit well. She wants to make a good impression, but also- she's one of those people who likes to be liked. Who tries to be liked. "You don't have to," she sighs miserably, rubbing her face. "I can tell you don't like me, so you don't have to pretend." 

Sweet Pea stares at her in surprise, so she continues. 

"Toni stopped talking to me when she found out. I really liked her, I thought- I thought we were friends, but..." she shakes her head, not about to explain herself again. She's made a mistake, she can only say it so much and if Jughead's forgiven her, and she's trying to forgive herself, why can't anyone else cut her some slack? "We can just pretend for Juggie. I'll say you're great, you can say you don't hate me, and then we can just, check our phones or whatever it is young people do these days." 

He laughs, nodding. "Okay, Cooper, fuck me, you really are his soulmate, aren't you? You look like an advert for strawberry bubblegum, but you're all killer, aren't you?" She doesn't know what to say to that, so she doesn't say anything, as Sweet Pea sits up. "First off, I don't hate you." He corrects, "and second, I'm sorry if Toni's being...difficult. It's her way. She's testy sometimes. Especially when it comes to people she loves. It's an admirable trait, but sometimes it can get in the way." He sighs and Betty likes him. It's a shame. She'd be his friend too. Jughead has good taste in friends. She hopes he likes Veronica and Archie. Sweet Pea seems reasonable and sensible and in possession of a sense of humour and more open to conversation than Toni had been. "I don't really know you. I know Jug. I don't have a lot to go off." 

Betty still doesn't say anything. 

Sweet Pea sighs. "I only met him after he lost his hearing. After he lost you. I never met a Jughead who thought he'd actually meet his soulmate someday. I know somewhere, out there, you were probably going through hell, but so was he, you know? And he managed to love you anyway. I never heard him listening to hate-music, though it wouldn't have made a difference." He shrugs. "You make him happy and you were only a kid, you know? No older than JB when it all started, so...like, I'd like to get to know you but there's...hesitation." 

It sounds reasonable even though it makes Betty miserable. "Is there anyway I can ever get over this?" She asks quietly, "over the fact that I...that I hurt him over those years? Or is it going to be something that's there forever?" 

"My soulmate had the sever." Sweet Pea says, and Betty looks up at him with huge eyes. He meets her eyes coolly. "I was only twelve. I listened to a lot of hate music too. It was wrong, and not because they were a good person somewhere out there-or because it was some huge mistake- listening to that music wasn't good for anyone. It didn't make me feel better and wherever they are, why ever they did it- that's their shit to deal with." 

Betty shakes her head, Jughead's words echoing in her mind. "Feeling what I felt wasn't a mistake and it wasn't wrong. I'm sorry I hurt him but I'm not sorry for what I felt." She says, as bravely as she can. "You shouldn't be either. You were  _twelve._ Your soulmate left you and it hurt- you shouldn't feel bad about that. It's okay to express your emotions. People lash out sometimes. My problem was that I lashed out at someone who didn't deserve it, and you know something? I've apologised and he forgave me. No one else matters." 

Sweet Pea looks struck and she turns and storms out of the bedroom only to run into Jellybean, who has tears streaming down her face. 

Betty stops in her tracks but Jellybean just shoves her and runs out. Betty stumbles back but regains her footing, and without thinking about it, runs out after her. 

It's a warm morning outside now, and Jellybean is spritely and quick, but Betty's been exercising regularly for years and she catches up to her just as they run into an empty garage. She's trying to catch her breath and watches as Jellybean comes to a stop by a car with its hood propped up. She's panting too, and her face is still red and splotchy. 

_Annie are you okay? Annie are you okay? Are you okay Annie?_ Betty hears in her mind as she fills her lungs. 

Hannah Montana is the first thing that comes into her mind. "So I might slip again, let it in now and then, that don't mean anything- I'm still good." She sings back breathlessly. Jellybean looks up at her and nods. 

"Jellybean, Jellybean, well that's the name we picked for you. And now it fits you to a t, and now I'll tell you why it's true. Cause you're sweet, and swell and round, and a-pretty to the pound, Jellybean," sings the girl, and Betty repeats the tune as best she can. 

Jughead doesn't respond in her head, so she assumes it's okay. 

Betty tries for a smile, still catching her breath. "Your soulmate's gonna be confused." 

Jellybean wipes her face with her sleeve. "I hate you." She hisses, but it doesn't sound like real hatred. It sounds like someone who's racked with guilt. Betty knows the feeling. 

**Author's Note:**

> What a come back, am I right? Just kidding I'm sorry I've been away :( x 
> 
> MWAH  
> x


End file.
